Olbermann returns after two nights off on Tuesday

posted at 8:48 am on November 8, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

So that makes the suspension equal to, what — 40 minutes of air time for every unapproved political donation? MSNBC will put Keith Olbermann back on the air after two unpaid days off following the admission that the anchor broke NBC’s ethics rules designed to protect their staff’s “standing (cough) as an impartial (coughcough) journalist (cough cough cough cough cough)”:

MSNBC says Keith Olbermann will be back on the air Tuesday, ending his suspension for violating NBC’s rules against making political donations after two shows.

MSNBC’s chief executive Phil Griffin said late Sunday that after several days of deliberation, he had determined that two days off the air was “an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy.”

The left-leaning cable network’s most popular personality acknowledged donating $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. NBC News prohibits its employees from making political donations unless an exception is granted in advance by the network news president. In this case, Olbermann’s bosses didn’t know about them until being informed by a reporter.

“We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night,” Griffin said in a statement.

Look, the application of the rule to Olbermann is absurd in the first place. If NBC’s ethics rules really apply to MSNBC, then their entire prime-time lineup should get canned after the Election Night fiasco. No one cares whether Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Larry O’Donnell, or Ed Schultz contribute to Democrats. Donations could not possibly tell us any more than even a first-time viewer wouldn’t glean in the first five minutes of their shows.

Obviously, ethics had nothing to do with it. Why did Griffin go through this little farce? He wanted to use it to supposedly position MSNBC as somehow more journalistically pure than Fox News, and to give the channel’s defenders a talking point after one of the most embarrassing displays in American telejournalism on Tuesday night. Olbermann, who kept oddly quiet during his hours in the wilderness, presumably knew better what was happening than the “Free Keith” contingent who demanded that Griffin reverse his decision and who worried that Olbermann’s right to free speech was somehow threatened.

Basically, this was nothing more than a farcical publicity stunt, and a pleasant long weekend for the supposed perp/victim.

I hope more people tune in to his show this week who have never seen it before. It’ll be that many more folks who see how unhinged the left has become if they haven’t already – especially in post mid-term blow-out tantrum mode.

to supposedly position MSNBC as somehow more journalistically pure than Fox News, and to give the channel’s defenders a talking point after one of the most embarrassing displays in American telejournalism on Tuesday night.

I figured he’d be back(although not this soon). But I did think there was a slight possibility that the pending takeover by Comcast coupled with the embarrassment of Tuesday night’s midterm coverage might have prompted MSDNC management to finally get their act together. Apparently I thought too much of them.

They have to be trying to get ratings up. While I doubt that Comcast cares much about the content, how do they continue a network with those ratings? If you go to the headlines Johnny Dollars Place has a video of MSNBC doing exactly the same thing the Ms. Maddow accused Fox of doing.

“Suspension” my ass. Olbermann’s donations of $7200 are mice nuts compared to his nightly In-Kind Contributions to the Democrat party. I smell a rat. Why did Maddow’s coverage on Olbermann segue into an attack on FNC? Because this whole stunt is directed at Fox – notwithstanding Olbermann’s man-crush on O’Reilly.

Well, you’ve got former Obama aides complaining about evil Comacast cabals being behind Olby’s suspension. And it could be possible that Phil Griffin was looking ahead to saving his own bacon with Comcast by showing he has at least some sense of journalistic shame. But it’s also possible that – as media obsessed as the Democrats in general and this White House in particular are — that Griffin or others at the network or its current/future parent actually got some political pressure to put Keith back on the air, because certain people in power deluionally believe that keeping Olbermann on the air someday is finally going to be that game-change against Fox News, when the majority of Americans finally come to their senses.

MSNBC’s chief executive Phil Griffin said late Sunday that after several days of deliberation, he had determined that two days off the air was “an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy.”

Translation: We still love his hatred for conservative thought.

Liberalism is alive and well at MSNBC—the Daily Kos of cable television.

Why did Griffin go through this little farce? He wanted to use it to supposedly position MSNBC as somehow more journalistically pure than Fox News, and to give the channel’s defenders a talking point after one of the most embarrassing displays in American telejournalism on Tuesday night.

If that Griffin’s reasoning, then I have two words for this: Epic Fail. Obiedork’s show sucks for one reason and one reason only, Obiedork. This isn’t going to gain any significant numbers if at all. msnbc: where careers go to be put to rest.

You’ve been snookered again, Ed. All the squishy “conservatives” who turned the NBC reaction to Olbermann’s contract violation into some sort of bogus plea for “freedom of speech” got played like li’l violins. Again.

It’s Juan Williams all over again: overpaid hack journalist irritates his bosses and gets broomed, then comes back fat and happy, with status raised as a “martyr to the First Amendment” (or something).

Nuts. Both of them knew the rules, and are getting undeserved bloated paychecks from their “oppressors.” Both of them did something their superiors didn’t like. When said superiors are unhappy, it is their right to fire/suspend those who irritate them.

When you’re raking in $7 mil a year, what does three unpaid days cost you? Not a whole heck of a lot.

Loss of income: minuscule; publicity and the sight of so-called “conservatives” racing to your defense? Priceless!

Most of us ignore what the left wing media says anyway Ed,so this comes as no surprise and who cares really?Only pmsnbc and their viewers:)

ohiobabe on November 8, 2010 at 9:08 AM

So true. I don’t even have a clue what went on at MSNBC last Tues on election night as I avoid all the threads and videos of what goes on at that network, and those fools on their payroll don’t faze me none. The relevence given to them by Right-leaning blog sites is absurd.

OK look. Let’s be honest, which is what I’ve been saying for a while. It’s MSNBC. Please tell me that none of you were silly enough, gullible enough, or foolish enough to think that they would turn over a new leaf and start being all non partisan.

I’m glad Olby is back, because now I still have a chance at being named the Worst Person in the world. That as you know, is a mark of honor for a Conservative, like the Nobel Prize for a Liberal.

Meh. My guess is that this whole kerfluffle was Griffin making lemons into lemonade. The donations/suspension were cover for the fact that Keithy was throwing a tantrum after the Democrat implosion Tuesday.

The ‘suspension’ was two days because that’s how long it took to coax Olberman out of the bathtub.

If this is a stunt and I have to admit that it appears to be, I wonder if the Right running to the defense of Mr. Olbermann is what they had in mind? All these nasty Right wing fascist coming to the defense of his freedom of speech can’t really have been part of the plan, could it?

“Sure, most people call it a weekend, but the fact remains that it is two days”, said MSNBC president Phil Griffin in response to criticism of the light punishment. “As a matter of fact, we intend to suspend him for two days every single week, just to send a message.”

Olbermann [] presumably knew better what was happening than the “Free Keith” contingent who demanded that Griffin reverse his decision and who worried that Olbermann’s right to free speech was somehow threatened.

I love how flexible the “principles” of liberals are: FOX News is a monolithic corporation which the 1st Amendment doesn’t apply to and must be constrained by FCC regulations, but MSNBC is just a collection of individual commentators exercising their right to free speech.

Nope. I believe Olberman’s show is the highest rated show on MSNBC. I know that’s not saying much, but why would you get rid of the host of a show that is your biggest money maker? Even MSNBC isn’t that dumb.

Give the crazy man time, he will still do something so ridiculous that even MSNBC will have to send him packing for good. Meanwhile, it’s good entertainment for Hot Air readers because I don’t go near MSNBC on TV.

Obviously, ethics had nothing to do with it. Why did Griffin go through this little farce? He wanted to use it to supposedly position MSNBC as somehow more journalistically pure than Fox News, and to give the channel’s defenders a talking point after one of the most embarrassing displays in American telejournalism on Tuesday night.

Well it sure looks legitimate now. Not only has Keith’s money been donated to Dem candidates, it’s still with them, inspite of their mock holier than Fox attitude.

Fox personalities made donations. Obviously there was no secrete, or shame in this. Nor was there with Keith. But now MSNBC tries to shame Fox, while doing the same thing? Do these people even bother to think things thru first? Because now they look even more hypocritical than ever. IF that’s even possible.

If this was all part of some grand plan for publicity, then… damn, MSNBC needs tutoring from Xanatos (a villain from the Gargoyles cartoon, revered for his skill at manipulation) badly. They made their so-called ethical policies look like they’re just a speed bump and pretty much confirmed Keith Olbermann is not in any way, shape, or form an objective commentator.

I love this line that PopEater.com just posted on Olby demanding MSNBC apologize to him for them taking him off the air!

“Keith is furious about the way this has all been handled and insisted that MSNBC bosses apologize to him before he would agree to return,” a network insider tells me. “Keith sees himself as the star of MSNBC, the person who put them on the map and discovered fellow network anchors Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell. To be treated like this by the network he helped shape, he considers disgusting.”

In other words, MSNBC has become the Network For The Insane Asylum Run By The Inmates due primarily and solely because of Keith Olbermann and his influence.

He wanted to use it to supposedly position MSNBC as somehow more journalistically pure than Fox News

Obviously MSNBC is slanted to the left. But to say that Fox News is someone comparable is a stretch. When the day comes that MSNBC gives shows and salaries to Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and every other potential Democratic candidate who’d like to build a national audience through cable TV, then I’ll agree with you.

Certainly, that day will come. Presidential candidates on the right will work for Fox, while those on the left will work for MSNBC or another network that decides to go after the non-Fox audience. I don’t know exactly how Presidential politics headed down this path, but it stinks.